Two new employees join division of music

The Department of Music is satisfied to invite two new employees — Katey J. Halbert and Jessica Vansteenburg — to the U of A.

Hornist Katey J. Halbert’s energetic character and energy for music rouse both as an educator and entertainer. Another inhabitant to Northwest Arkansas, Halbert will be the meeting right hand educator of horn beginning this fall. Her profession in the course of the last decade has been featured by various novel and drawing in melodic encounters she desires to impart to her understudies.

As an entertainer, she has been an included soloist at various celebrations and meetings, large numbers of whom have zeroed in on portrayal of ladies in music, like the International Women’s Brass Conference and the Women Composer’s Festival at Hartford. As a chamber performer she has been an individual from the not-for-profit association The Wild Prairie Winds throughout the previous four years, pursuing objectives, for example, grassland protection mindfulness and available music training. Her affection for music proceeds with all year as she spends her summers instructing at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan, performing with Blue Lake’s workforce wind and metal quintets just as the Festival Chamber Orchestra. Her commitment to educating and performing is dominated exclusively by her adoration for her better half and their hairy group of five.

portrait of Katey Halbert holding a French horn”I cannot begin to express my excitement regarding my new position at the University of Arkansas,” Halbert said. “Not only am I thrilled to be working alongside such a distinguished faculty, but I am also excited to teach and connect with the fabulous and dedicated students of the Arkansas music community. I hope to continue my work as an advocate for greater representation of underrepresented musicians, and I look forward to sharing my experiences and research with my students, colleagues and Arkansas!”

Lia Uribe, associate chair of the Department of Music, said, “We are very excited to welcome Dr. Halbert to the music department. She brings a unique vision for diversity, equity and inclusion demonstrated in her extensive research and commitment to the music of underrepresented composers, especially women. Also, I can’t wait to share with her the work of our faculty ensemble in residency, the Lyrique Quintette, and to add her voice to our ongoing projects.”

picture of Jessica VansteenburgJessica Vansteenburg additionally joins the personnel this fall as teacher of musicology. Vansteenburg, an expert in the Hungarian-talking melodic local area, welcomes skill on an assortment of famous and vernacular practices just as a functioning vocation as a clarinetist.

“I am looking forward to sharing music and my experience with U of A students and collaborating with colleagues in the music department,” Vansteenburg said. “Arkansas will be a new state for me, and I’m eager to get to know the Fayetteville community. I will be trading the Rockies for the Ozarks and can’t wait to explore the trails with my dachshund, Axel!”

Vansteenburg recently educated at Luther College, Salem State University and the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her momentum research project is a multi-site ethnography of Hungarian live events in Transylvania. As a clarinetist, Vansteenburg has showed up in symphonic, melodic theater, ambiance music and solo settings all through the U.S. furthermore, universally. She likewise has moved all through the Denver region with Flamenco Fantasy Theater. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, a D.M.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a M.M. in clarinet from Ohio University and a B.A. in music and English from Luther College.

This fall, she will show Popular Music (MLIT 1333) and Honors Experiencing Music (MLIT 1003H). The two courses are currently open for enlistment.

“Dr. Vansteenburg brings a wealth of experience to our department. These courses are a crucial gateway to our department, and we’re excited to continue to diversify and expand our offerings for the whole University of Arkansas community,” said Micaela Baranello, musicology division head.